L'Est du Canada

I'm at the one with the lights, the one with the lights.

Le Canada était un voyage amusant! Beaucoup plus de l'est du Canada parle français que je croyais. Je ne connais pas Halifax, mais tout le reste de Moncton à Toronto m'a fait pratiquer mon français. Spécialement Québec. Ils sont le français stéréotypé. Je me souviens beaucoup! Outre le Québec, l'anglais suffit.

If you've kept up on my previous posts, you know that I am interested in population statistics, because I believe, mostly without controversy, they give a reliable hint as to the denizens' life outlooks. Well here are Canada's statistics in a nutshell:

Canada has 10% of the total US population. 75% of those live within one hundred miles of the US border. Eight Canadian cities have significantly more population than all others. From east to west, these are Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton (only one of these far from the US), Calgary, and Vancouver. These are one-to-one with Canada's NHL teams, excepting Quebec City.

Toronto's Rogers Centre and CN Tower

By fortunate happenstance, I was in Canada over Victoria Day weekend, a national holiday celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday. So everywhere in Canada was a big party for the extended weekend. Add on top that Canada turns 150 the following month, the country was set up for more fun than I would have had most other weeks, I'm sure. Festivities galore.

New Brunswick

Downtown Moncton

Moncton nature walks

The single biggest recommendation I got for all of Canada was to see the tidal bore in Moncton, New Brunswick. Moncton is also the biggest city in the province, so why not. A tidal bore is one manifestation of a soliton, something I did a little bit of research on back in grad school, which I thought would be cool to see in nature. In laymen's terms, a soliton is a wave which gains energy at the same rate as it loses the energy, thereby never crashing and dying. In practice, a tidal bore is the precursor to a rise in tides. The Bay of Fundy's tides sends a "wave" up the river against the current for literal miles. The information booth is able to predict the arrival of the bore down to the minute! The tidal bore isn't a particularly flashy phenomenon, but it's a mind-boggling freak of nature nonetheless. See the video.

Before getting to Quebec, I passed a city called New Maryland. A friend, I forget who, brought this up with me before in regards to the "News" of America: New Jersey, New Mexico, etc. How pretentious of us, he thought! I dismissed his concern. But now that I saw a New Maryland, I understood. What jerks, those Canadians! Who are they to say they have a new, implicitly improved, version of our state? Food for thought.

The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

I stopped in Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, to see my first Canadian parliament building. Found some easy parking and snapped a couple photos. Also pictured is the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor's mansion. Not much else in the city. 

Government House of New Brunswick

Quebec

A view of downtown from the park Plaines d'Abraham (many more skyscrapers off to the left)

Now for the first major Canadian city - all that New Brunswick stuff is small time. And now I dive neck deep into French Canada. Moncton had some French, Montreal will have more French, Ottawa will have a little less, and Toronto almost none. But Quebec City dwellers give you dirty looks if you don't speak French. Fine by me! Practice for Europe.

Quebec's Parliament Building

Looking down on Old Quebec

At the time, I was thinking Quebec is the city for me. But after getting to Ottawa and Toronto, and revisiting Montreal, I realize now each of the major Canadian cities have something to offer. As far as Quebec goes, I especially enjoyed walking through Old Quebec (included strolling right by an Antifa gathering, which gathered a decent police following). Quebec is the oldest continually inhabited city in Canada and one of the oldest in all of the Americas. I did not enjoy getting a parking ticket though - it's entirely in French and all that French legalese is difficult to decipher.

Le Chȃteau Frontenac

Inside La Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec
Undergoing major construction, you can see the front is actually covered by a mural on a drape.

Rue Saint-Jean

An active Canadian military base

Atop what I termed the Great Wall of Quebec

Montreal... I was here about 10 years ago and I remembered very little of it. Couldn't find any free cheese this time, but still a fun and livable city. I was very disappointed to find out that my favorite casino got rid of their electronic poker tables. Electronic poker tables as in real poker against real people at your table, with a screen in front of each player and no human dealer. That was great. Still probably my favorite casino, but no longer a must-go. Had a delicious crepe here though.

Downtown Montreal, with the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

Ontario

Ottawa's downtown, viewed from Parliament Hill

Ottawa doesn't have nearly as much as DC, but it is less stuffy. Fewer suits. Parliament Hill dominates the main part of the city, with an expansive outdoor market through the old part. Lacks parks but the manual locks along the canal were especially cool. I regret not spending time going through the city's museums.

The canal's locks - takes 1.5 hours to pass through all eight

The National Gallery of Canada featuring all Canadian art on the left,
and the Notre-Dame Cathedral on the right.

Some weird spider sculpture in front of Ottawa's Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.

The market in the old part of town

Below are a series of photos of Ottawa's government buildings on Parliament Hill (their version of the National Mall).

Toronto's version of Times Square

Toronto truly felt like New York City. It's Canada's most populous city. Parks, skyscrapers, islands, subways.... none of that is too unusual, but there's a je ne sais quoi to the city that really makes it feel New Yorkish, without the frozen demeanors. I walked miles of Toronto after midnight, often on backstreets, and never had to look over my shoulder. The CN Tower, as seen in a couple photos, was the tallest building in the world for decades until the Burj Khalifa's completion.

Architecturally interesting skyscrapers besides the CN Tower 

Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays

Queen's Park featuring the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Up close with the Legislative Assembly

"Old" Toronto doesn't look very old.
Old City Hall's clock tower in the distance.

Casa Loma 

Wrap Up

Bottom line is I had a great time each of the four major eastern cities. Judging by the population dynamics, the four western cities would probably be just as fun. I'm not ready for the fabled move-to-Canada, but now I know I could easily fit in there. The cities rank very closely to each other. If I had to choose now: Toronto > Quebec City > Montreal > Ottawa.

There's a Boston Pizza chain restaurant in Canada. I have no idea what that means. What's a Boston-style pizza?

Up Next
Niagara, Albany, Trenton
Trying to flip these posts out quickly now. Only five days until I'm in Sweden!

Pump House

Root Beer
Pump House (Moncton, NB) - This is a slightly watered down Mug. I don't think root beer is very popular in Canada, despite a lot of A&W restaurants. The positive was the bartender served me a large but charged for a small. 3 stars.

On Repeat
I had my musicals binge and my 80's binge. Time for the 90's binge, featuring bands like Third Eye Blind, Sister Hazel, and Barenaked Ladies, but none more than...
Album: Collective Soul - Dosage
I can never pick my favorite album from Collective Soul, but this one had the most plays on this portion of my trip. They have nine studio albums and only about half a dozen songs I don't like. They are my longest running favorite band that I finally outgrew five years ago. They preceded Bleachers, and followed...
Song: Goo Goo Dolls - Over and Over
Dizzy Up the Girl was one of the first CDs I owned. Five albums later they produced this gem of a song, released a year ago. Over and Over sounds like Goo wanted to produce a new pump up song for their concerts. It includes the lyric "Turn it up!" multiple times. You can be sure I was fist pumping in my car to the dozens of plays of this song.

Berczy Park fountain dogs staring at a golden bone